ON THE RECORD.

Name: Joseph Shuldiner Job: Executive director of the...

October 01, 1995|By Flynn McRoberts, Tribune Staff Writer.

Name: Joseph Shuldiner

Job: Executive director of the CHA

Joseph Shuldiner, 50, is giving up the most powerful job in U.S. public housing to take on the most difficult. He will run the Chicago Housing Authority, which was taken over earlier this year by his former employer, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, because of mismanagement. It remains under HUD's control.

Q: You've said the first question your wife had when you talked about becoming CHA's executive director was, "Why?" Why are you taking this job?

A: One, it's kind of what I do. And, second, after learning so much (he laughs), we want to see if we can practice what we preach. Also, it gets very difficult to try to sell residents on your good faith if you're asking them to commit (to) a lot of stuff-such as give up buildings and change ways-when other than good intentions, they don't see a whole lot of commitment on your side. I think personally the best thing I could do for public housing (in the U.S.) is to try to turn around Chicago because rightfully or wrongfully, it's very symbolic of the failures of public housing. Plus, the people deserve it.

Q: Some observers think the HUD bureaucracy itself will limit what you can accomplish here. How will you succeed where former CHA Chairman Vince Lane failed?

A: One advantage of having someone like myself and someone like John (Nelson, the former head of public housing in Indianapolis and now the CHA's director of operations) is, to the extent there is a process that you must follow, we know it and we're willing to follow it.

What Vince tended to do is, he would have these great ideas and then their proposal would sometimes not even reflect the ideas he had discussed. It would often just be so contrary even to the statute-let alone the regulations-and then when HUD turned it down, he would lambaste HUD as being bureaucratic.

Q: What is HUD's responsibility to the CHA?

A: HUD, certainly for as long as they run it, has a special obligation to Chicago-which I hope they honor. They promised me, before taking this job. As (HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros) said, we know HUD has a lot on the line here. They want us to succeed.

Q: What does HUD have on the line here?

.

A: (HUD's) public housing (program), if it can turn around Chicago, then we can argue that the system actually works. I don't know if we can turn it around in time before this Congress dismantles (the program). But HUD has said that HUD is relevant, that they do have a role, and that one of the roles is intervention and dealing with problem housing authorities.

Q: How will you cope with congressional cuts in HUD's budget and still make substantial changes at CHA, particularly along the State Street corridor as the secretary has promised?

A: I think everybody understands that redevelopment requires big bucks. And to the extent that big bucks are no longer as available, it just means it's going to take longer. On the other hand, the money is what it is, so the need to have a better functioning housing authority that does things the right way is only greater, not less.

No, we're not going to have the money to do the entire State Street corridor at once. On the other hand, we don't have the capacity to do the entire State Street corridor at once.

Q: What will (the Henry Horner development, across from the United Center) look like when the Democrats arrive next summer for their convention?

A: The question has an assumption that I don't accept. I'm not here to worry about what Horner looks like when the Democrats come. (The Horner redevelopment plan) represents what the secretary has been pushing from almost Day One, which is, this is not about making better public housing. This is about making viable communities in which there is adequate opportunity for affordable housing for low-income people.

It doesn't help us if we build the best public housing in the world if it's in the middle of a distressed community because eventually that distress will seep into what we've built. What we're planning here is taking a big sprawling housing development, demolishing it, reinserting the street grid, building housing that looks just like the community around it and then going into the community and (building housing on vacant lots).

So when you come to this community in the future, you're going to see that here's a vibrant community and oh, by the way, you can't tell it but this building, that building, the one over there are actually public housing.

Q: There's also a lot of distrust in neighborhoods outside of public housing about scattered-site units. How do you hope to overcome the political and community opposition to truly scattering public housing?

A: It depends on the nature of the problem. If the problem is a legitimate fear of the unknown and potential negative impact on property values, I think there are ways to address them. The community says bad people are going to come in, so you say: Fine, you sit on the screening committees.